There's nothing upfront about which books go to the front of a bookshop. When the now-defunct illustrated children's books publisher Hamlyn came to India over three decades ago, they took the unheard step of wooing bookshops for window display. They held competitions among bookshops for the best window display. The prize: a trip to London or a few thousand rupees in cash. But since then, the methods publishers prefer to nudge their books onto the window are more desi: contacts or under-the-counter cash. But the best bet, swear some, is to persuade a bookchain to hold book readings. Once they agree, you can be sure the book will be prominently displayed.
If there is one thing writers can't understand, it is why Anurag Mathur's Inscrutable Americans is perennially on the bestseller list. Bhagat, who hopes to outdo Inscrutable sales, says it's all about stickiness—that "word-of-mouth epidemic" that converts small books into bestsellers.
